After a month of competition across North America and 103 matches, the 2026 World Cup is down to its final game. Spain and Argentina will meet this afternoon in a match expected to draw over one billion viewers around the world. 

On today’s episode, Tariq Panja traces the road to this historic final and explains what to know before kickoff.

Tariq Panja, a global sports correspondent for The New York Times.

Background Reading

Why Everyone Cares About This World Cup

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Lulu Garcia-Navarro sits down for an interview with the mayor of New York City.

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Last Friday night, F.B.I. agents showed up at the homes of several New York Times journalists and summoned them to testify before a grand jury.

The move was a response by the Trump administration to an article about the safety of the new Air Force One.

Tyler Pager, one of the journalists, discusses the story and the subpoenas.

Guest: Tyler Pager, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

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Two fatal shootings by federal immigration agents in Texas and Maine have put the spotlight back on the Trump administration’s deportation tactics.

Hamed Aleaziz, who reports on immigration policy, explains how these killings signal a return to a more aggressive form of enforcement.

Guest: Hamed Aleaziz, who covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy in the United States for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

Photo: Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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To be confirmed as the next attorney general, Todd Blanche must convince members of the U.S. Senate that as political as the Department of Justice has become, it would be even worse without him on top.

As his confirmation hearing begins, Glenn Thrush, a Justice Department reporter for The New York Times, recounts the unlikely story of how Mr. Blanche became President Trump’s legal enforcer.

Guest: Glenn Thrush, a Justice Department reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

Photo: Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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This Friday, “The Odyssey,” directed by Christopher Nolan, hits theaters. Even before the movie’s release, though, it’s proving to be a cultural event. Spirited discussions of Nolan’s cinematic interpretation of the epic poem already abound online, and they are likely to intensify after the public sees the film.

Why does a 12,000-line poem that is nearly 3,000 years old still feel resonant today? In this episode of “The Sunday Daily,” Natalie Kitroeff talks about the “Odyssey” with two writers who have produced some critically acclaimed and widely read modern interpretations of Greek classics: Emily Wilson, the first woman to translate the “Odyssey” from ancient Greek, and Madeline Miller, the author of the best-selling novels “Circe” and “Song of Achilles.”

On Today’s Episode:

Emily Wilson, a professor, classicist, author and translator of the “Odyssey”

Madeline Miller, the author of “Circe,” “Song of Achilles” and other books

Background Reading:

We’ll Help You Find Your Next Great Book. (Spoiler: It’s the ‘Odyssey.’)

The First Woman to Translate the ‘Odyssey’ Into English

Book Review: Turning Circe Into a Good Witch

Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

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The legendary rock star, now 82, on how fame, touring and aging have changed him.

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In celebration of the United States of America’s 250th birthday, we posed a simple question to some of our favorite critics, columnists and editors across the New York Times newsroom, people who write about books, movies, TV shows, science, sports, wellness and food. We asked: What’s the most American thing on your beat?

On today’s episode, we present their answers. Happy Birthday, America!

On Today’s Episode

Joshua Barone, culture editor, on “Rodeo,” composed by Aaron Copland

Vanessa Friedman, chief fashion critic, on workout gear

Erik Piepenburg, culture writer, on the movie “Get Out”

Kevin Roose, technology columnist, on Amazon Prime

Mekado Murphy, culture editor, on the roller coaster The Beast

James Poniewozik, chief television critic, on “Survivor”

Jancee Dunn, wellness writer, on productivity and sleep

Elena Bergeron, culture editor, on U.S. hockey

Jennifer Szalai, nonfiction book critic at the Book Review, on “Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World” by Henry Grabar

Bill Wasik, science editor, on liquid rocket fuel

Madison Malone Kircher, internet culture reporter, on Bama Rush

Kim Severson, food reporter, on M&M’s

MJ Franklin, editor at the Book Review, on “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Helen Shaw, chief theater critic, on “The Century Cycle” by August Wilson

Alissa Wilkinson, film critic, on the movie “There Will Be Blood”

Zachary Small, culture reporter, on Grand Theft Auto

Elisabeth Vincentelli, culture reporter, on demolition derbies

Jason Zinoman, critic at large, on the song “Political Science” by Randy Newman

Jason Farago, critic at large, on the Statue of Liberty

A.O. Scott, critic at large, on “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” by Walt Whitman (featuring a reading by Jeffrey Wright)

Gia Kourlas, dance critic, on “Stars and Stripes” by George Balanchine and “Appalachian Spring” by Martha Graham

Jon Caramanica, pop music critic, on “Trump Trump Baby” by Forgiato Blow

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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In 1992, David Wood became El Paso’s most notorious convicted serial killer. He has been on death row ever since. More than 30 years later, his lawyers have just a few months to argue his innocence and stop his execution.

This is the first episode of a new five-part series from Serial Productions called “The Last 12 Weeks.” You can find the rest of the series by searching for “The Last 12 Weeks” on your favorite podcast player.

To find out about new shows from Serial Productions, and get a look behind the scenes, sign up for our newsletter at: https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/serial

Have a story pitch, a tip, or feedback on our shows? Email us at [email protected]

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The writer Tom Junod has spent a career crafting profiles for men’s magazines like GQ and Esquire, often of famously complicated men like Norman Mailer, Kevin Spacey and Tony Curtis.

But another man loomed behind Junod’s interest in these figures, informing his own sense of masculinity and manhood: his father, Lou.

Lou Junod was handsome, charismatic — a man who seemed like a celebrity, even though he wasn’t famous. He was also mysterious, a keeper of secrets that have continued to reverberate through his son’s life.

On today’s episode, Michael Barbaro talks with Junod about his new book, “In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man,” which is part memoir and part detective story, as well as a powerful meditation on fatherhood.

On Today’s Episode:

Tom Junod is the author of “In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man.”

Background Reading:

Tom Junod Would Like to Tell You About His Father

Art: Lou Junod with baby Tom in 1958.

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